The International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) on Friday named Rwanda’s Louise Mushikiwabo as its new chief. She succeeds the Canadian incumbent, rival candidate Michaëlle Jean, after a suspense-free vote in Armenia.

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In normal times, African countries would have loudly saluted the choice of Rwanda's Mushikiwabo as head of the world community of French-speaking countries.

Instead, her nomination -- enshrined on the second and final day of the OIF’s summit in Yerevan -- has met with tight lips or muttered criticism.

Macron “has used La Francophonie as a French toy", said Paul Berenger, head of the opposition Mauritian Militant Movement on the French-speaking Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

“This is bad news for La Francophonie. It is supposed to promote the values of the French language and human rights.”

Joint pitch

Created in 1970 along lines blazed by the Commonwealth, the OIF brings together 58 countries and regional governments, representing 274 million speakers of French around the world.

Just months ago, the big name expected to be adopted in Yerevan was Jean, the current OIF secretary general. A Canadian of Haitian descent, she became the first woman and non-African to helm the organisation in 2014.

But her fortunes changed in May when Kagame visited Paris.

After talks with Macron, he announced -- in English -- that his foreign minister would be seeking the leadership of the world’s francophone community.

Macron declared his support, saying Mushikiwabo had “every quality for the job”.

The Macron-Kagame pitch, say analysts, is part of an effort to turn the page of nearly a quarter-century of acrimony, rooted in accusations by Rwanda -- rejected by France -- of French involvement in the 1994 genocide.

Rwanda’s fury at France was such that in 2003 it made English an official language alongside the country’s first language, Kinyarwanda, and French.

Five years later English replaced French as the language of education, and in 2009 Rwanda joined the Commonwealth, even though as a former Belgian territory its historic ties to Britain were negligible.

This was in line with their policy of backing an African candidate sensitive to the needs of states that comprise more than half of the OIF membership.

‘Problem’ Rwanda

But their support was lip service, said Senegalese political analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye.

Rwanda “is a problem", he said, saying the country had “turned its back” on La Francophonie in the past, and its record on human rights was at odds with the organisation’s commitment to democracy.

“France has been manoeuvering to satisfy Rwanda, to win it over,” he told AFP.

Mushikiwabo’s level of French was “rough", he said, quipping that the Académie Française -- the porticoed Paris institution that is the official guardian of the French language -- would be “dumbstruck”.

The choice of Mushikiwabo “has been rushed through politics have taken precedence over language, democracy, demography", he said.